Kevin B. Burdge

Graduate Student

Interested in astrophysical gravitational wave sources, specifically, binary systems containing multiple compact objects (white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes). I enjoy studying such systems because they serve as a rigorous testbed for general relativity since the physical parameters of such binaries can be constrained with the electromagnetic signature they emit, which allows for a detailed calculation and prediction of what the gravitational wave counterpart of the binary should look like according to general relativity. Additionally, systems with compact objects serve as a tool for understanding a range of rich physical concepts, such accretion, the population of supernova progenitors, and exotic stellar physics (for example, a large fraction rare hot subluminous subdwarfs are found in binaries, and are predicted to be products of the common envelope phase, a poorly understood physical process).